Nasal mask



A. LITTAUER NASAL MASK Filed Jan. 21, 1918 Patented ll, 31924.

ALFRED LI'ETAUER, OF NEW YORK, If. Y.

NASAL TEASE.

Application filed January 21, 1918. Serial No. 212,882.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED .Lrrrnunn, United States citizen, residing in'New York, N. Y., have invented the following described Improvements in Nasal Masks.

The invention is a nasal mask for applying anesthetics and consists of two principal features, the one having to do with the manner of effecting the seal between the gas conduit and the patients face and the other with the form of attachment of the sealing member to the conduit, which attachment is removable as presently described. One or both of these features constitute the present invention and together they produce a mask which is economical to manufacture, extremely compact though effective for its purposes and very easy to cleanse.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side View of the new mask;

Fig. 2 a bottom plan of the sealing member; and

Fig. 3 a longitudinal section through the mask indicating its relation to the patients face when in use.

The conduit for the anesthetic is marked 1 being attached to the rigid metal holder 2 which includes the usual breathing valve 3 and terminates in a concaved disc or holder 4. for the protruding sealing member 5. The latter is made of soft rubber or equivalent resilient collapsible material and fits the cavity in the holder as indicated in Figs. 1 and 3 and so as to be held therein frictionally or by its own resilience, being thus very easily separated from the holder when necessary. When in position therein an aperture 6 in the rubber wall of the sealing member registers with the end of the gas conduit in the tubular holder 2 and makes a gas-tight junction therewith which is sufiicient to prevent any likelihood of leakage of the anesthetic.

In its preferred form and as illustrated herein, the sealing member has the shape of a sphere about the size of an ordinary tennis ball and the holder 4: is formed with a substantially spherical hollow or cavity to provide the attachment and junction above referred to, but the shape of these parts is not essential and may be widely varied according to circumstances and the preference of the manufacturer.

The spherical sealing member is out or otherwise formed in its convexity with a slot or opening in its lower side about as indicated in Fig. 2 and of a suitable size and shape to fit over the patients nose and against the adjacent portion of the face. Generally the length of this aperture will be less than the parallel diameter of the sealing member. -The edge of the nasal opening thus provided, or rather the walls adjacent the opening, are normally inturned or convergent toward the opening and so far removed from the rigid holder 4; as to tend to curl inwardly, unrestrained by the holder, when the mask is pressed against the face. Furthermore the opening is preferably formed with two opposed lobes 7 inwardly projecting and of sufficient length to curl up against and lie along side of the patients nose as indicated in Fig. 3 and thereby impart a special tendency for the marginal portion of the rest of the opening to curl inwardly also according to the pressure exerted. "lhe inward curling of the soft rubber walls of the sealing member adapts it to fit all sorts of physiognomies with no more pressure than is requisite to bend the soft rubber wall and at the same time provides a relatively wide area of contact between the member and the face of the patient and hence a leak-tight seal therewith. The lobes 7 are not essential but are most effective in serving the function above stated and without requiring a high or objectionable pressure. In the use of the mask no greater pressure will be ordinarily exerted than will suffice to make a leak-tight connection with the patients face. Such connection may be accomplished without inward curling of the rubber wall at all points around the margin of the nasal opening; for instance, at the bridge of the nose or on the lip below the nostrils there may be no inward curling but as above explained the wall of the sealing member is subject to a tendency to curl inward and on that account yields readily to increased pressure, making a tight seal, without uncomfortable pressure at any point.

Claims:

1. A nasal mask comprising a hollow member provided with a nasal aperture having resilient edges freely curling on contact with the face to form a resilient seal therewith.

2. A nasal mask comprisingarigid holder and a protruding resilient sealing member are held therein and consisting substantially of a hollow rubber ball provided with a nasal aperture in the portion thereof outside said holder.

3. A nasal mask comprising a rigid concave holder having a connection with a gas tube, and a sealing member consisting substantially of a hollow flexible resilient ball having a portion separahly seated in the holder and opening to the gas tube, and having a nasal aperture adapted to it the patients face in the protruding portion 01? the hall.

I. A nasal mask comprising a hollow member provided with a nasal aperture having flexible edges and opposed inwardly projecting lobes to lie along the patients nose to curl the aperture edges;

5. An anesthetic mask comprising means for attachment to a gas conduit and a resilient portion provided with the facial opening, the walls of said resilient portion being convergent toward said opening and being unrestrained to curl in a progressing degree in the operation of pressing the mask against the face and thereby form a resilient seal by the contact ol its exterior surface with the face. 7

in testimony whereof, I have signed this specilicz'ition.

ALFRED LITTAUER. 

